Nothing in life is more remarkable than the unnecessary anxiety which we endure and generally occasion ourselves.

Much worry is spent on futures that never arrive. The mind rehearses the disaster in detail, and rehearsal feels like preparation while doing none of the work of it, so you pay the cost of the event without the benefit of having handled it. Some of this is not chosen and does not respond to being told to stop. Even so, a good deal of it can lose its grip once you look at it in daylight.

Write down what you are dreading and what you would actually do if it happened. A plan tends to quiet the rehearsal more effectively than reassurance does.